A look through Dania Ramirez's acting portfolio reveals her attraction to a range of characters with a certain measure of complexity or gravitas. Consider Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand, Vanessa, a spunky bicycle messenger in Premium Rush, and Maya Herrera on NBC's Heroes, and you'll see this pattern is no accident.

Her onscreen swagger had to come from somewhere, right? For Ramirez, who was raised by her grandmother in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with little money, coming to Los Angeles and winning was the only target in her crosshairs.

If her character choices are any clue, Ramirez doesn't scare easily. By the time she arrived in Tinseltown, her skin was thick enough to survive Hollywood's unprejudiced downpour of rejection. (It also didn't hurt that she played college volleyball and has the injuries to prove it—just watch.)

Now Ramirez exists in a realm between under the radar and renown, but it's her self-possession that makes her influence undeniable. (Cue Drake's "Started From the Bottom".) And lately, Ramirez plays the somewhat submissive Rosie Falta on Lifetime's Devious Maids.

In this episode of "Pretty Powerful," Ramirez let us into her world, where, as she put it to Allure, getting dressed for the gym makes her almost feel like a superhero. While discussing her spirited approach to life and career, and what makes her feel physically strong and confident, the very striking Ramirez (did we mention she was a face of CoverGirl?) struck a series of jaunty Pilates poses, wearing two exercise-friendly plaits that showed off her neck tattoo. Oh, and then there was a facial....